"To-morrow, then," he said, "we'll go together."
Recovering from the impetus which had carried him to that decision,
Val looked at him maliciously from under his lashes. 'All right,' he
thought, 'one to you. I shall have to join--but I'll get back on you
somehow.' And he said with dignity: "I shall be ready."
"We'll meet at the main Recruiting Office, then," said Jolly, "at
twelve o'clock." And, opening the window, he went out on to the terrace,
conforming to the creed which had made him retire when he surprised them
in the hall.
The confusion in the mind of Val thus left alone with her for whom he
had paid this sudden price was extreme. The mood of 'showing-off' was
still, however, uppermost. One must do the wretched thing with an air.
"We shall get plenty of riding and shooting, anyway," he said; "that's
one comfort." And it gave him a sort of grim pleasure to hear the sigh
which seemed to come from the bottom of her heart.
"Oh! the war'll soon be over," he said; "perhaps we shan't even have
to go out. I don't care, except for you." He would be out of the way
of that beastly divorce. It was an ill-wind! He felt her warm hand slip
into his. Jolly thought he had stopped their loving each other, did he?
He held her tightly round the waist, looking at her softly through his
lashes, smiling to cheer her up, promising to come down and see her
soon, feeling somehow six inches taller and much more in command of her
than he had ever dared feel before. Many times he kissed her before he
mounted and rode back to town. So, swiftly, on the least provocation,
does the possessive instinct flourish and grow.